Welton Institute for the Mentally Disturbed
by Corky the Quirk
Summary: Charlie Dalton wakes up in an institution for the mentally deranged and disturbed. What happens when he finds out that his whole life has all been a dream that places him in a coma-like state?
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:** So I've started yet another fic...I think I have a serious problem. Is there a disorder that causes a person to start and never end stories? Because I have that apparently. Anyway, this was inspired by a Harry Potter fanfic I read years ago...in fact I don't actually think I ever finished reading it...and I thought that it could work perfectly for Dead Poets Society. So, I can't take initial claim to the overall idea of this, but I obviously twisted it my own way since I can barely remember the original work of fiction that sparked my DPS inspiration. Now, after all of that rambling that may or may not have made sense to you, I hope you enjoy the first installment of _Welton Institution_. :)

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Dead Poets Society, nor did I come up with the general concept of the mental institution. I did however twist it my own way and credit goes to all original creators.

* * *

The first thing Charlie Dalton realized when he woke up was that he was not in his Welton dorm room. This would have surprised him greatly if it hadn't been for the fact that he had just been expelled for sucker-punching Richard Cameron in the snout.

No. What shocked Charlie the most was that he was in a medical bed, surrounded on three sides by hideously bright white walls. The last wall, looking out onto an abandoned hallway, was made up of all windows. The door to the room was situated on this wall of glass, propped open with a stack of encyclopedias.

He blinked in confusion. Where the hell was he and why was he here? "Hey!" he called out loudly, nervous to even move off the bed.

"Oh great," he heard a female voice mumbling sarcastically on the opposite side of the, apparently, paper-thin wall. "Charlie's awake again."

"Charlie's awake?" an excited voice echoed.

"That's what I said, Todd," the first voice replied in a patient tone.

"Oh, right."

Charlie raised an eyebrow. Todd? Todd was here, too? …wherever it was they were.

Suddenly the two were passing by the windowed wall. The girl hardly glanced at him, but Todd Anderson, it _was_ really Todd, pressed his face up against the glass as he moved, leaving a visible trail of slime from his tongue. They came to idle in the doorway of the room Charlie had woken in, dressed quite oddly.

The girl had extremely choppy hair hidden beneath what appeared to be an old, leather aviator's helmet, complete with time-fogged goggles propped on top. Her head was cocked to the side as she stared back at Charlie, arms crossed over a plain white t-shirt, disrupting the dog-tags that hung loosely from around her neck. Todd was even odder than this vaguely familiar young woman. He stood there with a horrifically cheerful expression, clad in socks, boxer shorts with red hearts dancing across the white material, and the top half of a straight jacket, forcing the floppy haired boy to hug himself.

Charlie rubbed at his eyes wearily, his jaw having reached the floor as he gaped at the couple before him. "Todd?" he asked in disbelief.

"And Dodge," the girl spoke up, shaking her head so that her unevenly cut hair fell into her face.

Charlie raised an eyebrow. "I…I don't know you…"

The girl made a sound of disgruntlement, throwing her hands up. "I swear, I'm the one that talks to you the most and yet, when you float off into that weird little world of yours, I'm hardly ever remembered. Tell me, who was I this time? A girl at the movies? One of the tramps you dragged to the cave? Oh, was I at the play? That's typical for you to dream up…"

Charlie was having trouble breathing, blinking in utter shock. What was this girl going on about? How did she know about the cave or Neil's production? He gulped, running a hand through his hair and glancing around him. "I…I…what the hell is going on? Todd?" Charlie glanced over at his friend, who had slowly begun to turn in circles, gaining speed as the seconds ticked by.

"Charlie!" he replied, staring up at the ceiling as he twirled before losing balance and crashing to the ground.

Charlie finally felt he was able to move, jumping from the hospital bed and bolting over to where Todd had introduced his face to the floor. The girl in the doorway—Dodge—rolled her eyes, her arms still crossed, and she sighed. "And that's why you aren't supposed to spin around when you're wearing the jacket, Todd," she drawled in monotone, as if she had said this phrase a million times, never having it fully sink in with the receiver of the message.

Charlie had propped Todd up into a sitting position before narrowing his eyes up at Dodge. "Okay, seriously, who the hell are you?"

Dodge huffed. "My name is Dodge. I'm one of your friends here at Welton Institute. No, not the school." She snorted. "Welton Prep doesn't exist. It's just Welton Institute for the Mentally Deranged and Disturbed." She blinked down at Charlie, who resembled a guppy, and sighed, whipping off her aviator helmet, running her fingers through her hair, and replacing it with frustration. "We go through this every single time," she muttered to herself before leaning against the doorframe, jiggling one foot. "Your name is Charles Dalton. You were born in 1992. Therefore you're eighteen years old, although you think you're seventeen most of the time. You suffer from derealization and fall into extremely vibrant hallucinations that put you in a coma-esque state. When you wake up, you only remember your…dreams, or whatever the scientific term for them are."

Charlie furrowed his eyebrows. "Look, I don't know who you are, and you clearly belong in the psych ward, but I need to get out of here. I don't belong in a nuthouse."

Dodge burst out laughing, which caused Todd to copy her actions, laughing along with her. "You're one of the most mentally disturbed people here Charlie. You fall into super long bouts of sleep and think you belong in a different time and a different world. But let me tell you something Charlie, like I've told you a thousand times before. _This_ is reality, and Welton, as you know it, doesn't exist. Todd, as you know him, doesn't exist. Nobody as you know them exists."

She walked over to where the two boys were still situated on the ground, pulling Todd up by the shoulders. Charlie continued to kneel there, glaring up at her. "I don't know what you're talking about, but just wait until my father hears about this."

Dodge chuckled. "Your father sent you here so that he wouldn't have to take care of your delusions himself. It's in your file."

"My file?" Charlie exclaimed, standing up so that he was looking down at her, hoping to appear as intimidating as one could look in mental ward pajamas. "How the hell did you get my file?" Why the hell did he _have_ a file?

Dodge sighed. "I'm a bit of a klepto. I know everything about everyone, as far as disorders and disfunctions go." She shrugged her shoulders. "Todd here has a few screws loose in the noggin'. Don't ya, Todd?" Todd eagerly nodded his head, leaning heavily against Dodge as she wrapped her arm around his shoulders. He snuggled into her side and then Dodge made the most disgusted face Charlie had ever seen on a person in his life. "And here comes Nurse Ratchet," the girl grumbled, her eyes darkening visibly.

Charlie raised an eyebrow and glanced in the direction Dodge was leaning away from. The sound of heels clicking against linoleum becoming more resonant until there, in his room, stood Ginny Danbury, dressed as a nurse. Charlie had to have died and gone to heaven. Perhaps she was kinky?

And then everything just turned for the worse, as Ginny gave Todd and Dodge two curt nods before shooing them from the room, despite Dodge's incessant grumblings and Todd's copy-cat behavior. She sighed, kicking the encyclopedias out of the way and slamming the door closed, drawing the shades over the windows until no one, not even Dodge and Todd, who had positioned themselves to peer through the windows, could see what was going on in the room.

Once Dodge and Todd were no longer able to see or hear anything, Ginny rolled her eyes and huffed. "We call them the terrible T's," she informed Charlie with a hint of annoyance. "Not that I haven't already told you that multiple times, but considering you never remember anything, I may as well just tell you again."

Charlie licked his lips. "Uh…terrible T's?"

Ginny nodded before groaning again. "That's right, you can never remember Dodge's first name since she refuses to respond to it." She grabbed Charlie's hand, automatically lacing their fingers together, which made Charlie's eyebrows raise in curiosity. She led him back over to his hospital bed before firmly shoving him down into a sitting position on the edge of the bed. "Tina and Todd are always causing trouble. It's mainly because Tina hates it here and Todd does everything she tells him to."

Charlie held up his hands to get her to stop talking, or at least to get her to slow down. "Wait…Tina? …Tina…Tina…" And then his eyes widened and a grin crossed his face as realization struck him. "Tiiiiina!" Then he blinked, once again confused. "No, that girl can't be Tina," he argued, shaking his head. "Tina's—"

Ginny gave Charlie a scathing look that quieted him immediately before pulling out a large note card from one of her pockets. "The reason you don't imagine Tina correctly in your little fantasy world is because she refuses to respond to the name 'Tina'. You could shout it at her all day long and she'll ignore you completely. Therefore your subconscious doesn't associate 'Tina' with 'Dodge' and instead manifests a completely different person." She placed one hand on her hip and raised an eyebrow at Charlie. "Am I going too fast for you?" she asked snidely.

Charlie gaped up at Ginny for a moment before shaking his head to clear his mind. "Uh…no…no…I just…"

"Having a hard time comprehending it all? Taking it in? Yes, that happens every time you wake up, this is nothing new." She vaguely waved her hand around, returning her gaze back to her note card. "Now let's see…I may as well just start from the top. Number one, Neil is not dead. You used to be best friends with him until his family moved to Pennsylvania. Number two—"

Charlie perked up for a second, although a pang of loss jolted through him at the mention of Neil. He once again held up his hands to stall Ginny, receiving a huff of annoyance. "Wait a second! What are you reading to me from?" he asked, reaching out for the note card, that looked as if it had had its fair share of use.

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Your dreams happen so often that we nurses developed a system of explaining reality to you. We've written down the necessary things you should know and compiled them onto note cards for ourselves. Quiet please," she said, effectively causing Charlie to clamp his jaw shut. "Number two, Mr. Perry—hey! Don't make that face Charlie, your dreams aren't correct, now just sit there and hear me out. Mr. Perry is the head doctor on this floor, and he's been very patient with your dislike for him, so I expect you to be respectful when he shows up, okay?"

Charlie bobbed his head, although he frowned slightly. "So Neil's father is my doctor?"

Ginny stood perfectly still for a moment, counting to ten and taking a deep breath. "Neil isn't 'Neil Perry'. That is the dream version. You're just upset because Doctor Perry sent Neil to a facility that is better suited to take care of his needs."

Charlie furrowed his brows. "But you said Neil's family moved to Pennsylvania…"

Ginny practically growled in frustration. "They moved to Pennsylvania because that's where the facility is, Charlie! Keep up! It's not that overly complicated and we've been over this way too many times!"

Charlie cringed slightly at the tone of Ginny's voice. "Sorry…" he mumbled, licking his lips and drooping his head.

Running a finger between the skin of her neck and the collar of her nurse uniform, Ginny sighed. "Moving on. Number three, the reason you fall into these coma-like states, we believe, is because of an incident that happened a few years ago when you were struck by lightning. You were playing outside in the rain, blatantly ignoring your parents scolding, when you got hit." She cleared her throat, rushing onto the next thing on her list before Charlie could interrupt again, since that was increasingly annoying. "Number four, please do not attack Richard when he and Knox come to visit you. He's had enough bloody noses, thank you." She paused, knowing Charlie was going to be outraged at that.

Sure enough, Charlie stood suddenly from the bed. "What do you mean 'don't attack _Richard_'?" he practically hissed, his fists clenching.

Ginny pursed her lips. "Dream Richard and Real-life Richard are two completely different people, Charles. Please sit down and let me continue." She stared at him evenly until he finally lowered himself slowly back down onto the bed. "Good boy, now, number five. I added this one myself since the rest of the faculty don't find it to be of utmost importance, but it's important to me, so I'm going to let you know." She bustled over to the bed and sat down beside Charlie, reaching out and taking his hand, once again lacing their fingers together, which surprised Charlie for a second time. "You and I…well…we're significant others." She blinked up at him, a small smile playing on her lips before there was a loud crash outside the door. She scowled, releasing Charlie's hand and marching over to the door. "Chris! Can't you keep them under control for_ five minutes_?" she screeched, walking back to the bed and smoothing out her skirt.

"Chris?" Charlie asked. "Wait…where's Knox?"

Ginny sighed. "Chris is the other nurse on this floor. Knox is most likely at home for the summer, prepping for college next year. He's head over heels for Chris, but your brother basically has her wrapped around his finger."

Charlie nearly choked. "My brother?" He was an only child…wasn't he?

Ginny nodded. "Chet Dalton. Chris fell for him the moment you were admitted to the ward." She glanced down at her watch and sighed. "I have to go give Gerard his medication, but I'll be back to visit you later." She leaned over and pressed a kiss to Charlie's lips, leaving him utterly dumb-founded, before clipping back to the door.

Ginny turned the knob, glancing around before letting out an irritated huff. "Where'd those door props go?" she demanded of Dodge, who Charlie could see leaning against the adjacent wall, picking at her fingernails.

Dodge glanced up, shrugging her shoulders. "I told you not to use encyclopedias as door stops when there's an active bibliomaniac running around."

Ginny clenched her fists. "Steven!" she called, hurrying down the hallway.

Charlie furrowed his brows, shaking his head, and rubbing at his eyes. "So you're…Tina?"

"Don't call me that," Dodge snapped, stomping down the hall in the opposite direction of Ginny.

Charlie hopped from the bed and ambled over to the door. "But you're not blond!"

Dodge rolled her eyes and continued walking. "That's in your dreams, Charles!"

Charlie groaned. This was going to take some getting used to.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note:** Hmm, I'm not so sure how I feel about this chapter...but I decided to put it up anyway! I know it's been forever, but life likes to keep me away from writing, so poo.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own DPS.

* * *

Charlie sat awkwardly, a clump of yellow play-doh plopped on the table before him. He glanced across at Dodge and Todd, then over at a boy called Hopkins that he'd been introduced to a few hours ago.

Dodge was repeatedly picking up her ball of play-doh, slamming it back down onto the table top in boredom. Hopkins, a boy who Dodge said suffered from frotteurism, was forming numerous phallic objects, and Todd merely made things in the vague shape of food, shoving them into his mouth and gobbling them down with great pleasure.

Charlie's one brow rose higher the longer he watched and he finally cleared his throat to speak. "Todd? Maybe you shouldn't do that…" he suggested passively.

Todd paused halfway through shoving a play-doh muffin into his mouth, blinking slowing and replying with: "I am the walrus."

Barely looking up from her own play-doh, Dodge remarked, "Don't forget the Egg Man, Todd."

"I am the Egg Man," Todd obediently stated with a nod, gulping down the muffin and licking his lips, letting out a satisfied _ah_.

Charlie sat for a few minutes before the last straw—Hopkins offering Todd one of his phallic-shaped creations to eat—sent him scooting back from the table and wandering over to where two boys were playing chess. He plopped down on one of the provided beanbag chairs and watched for a moment.

The one with the glasses and curly, ginger hair would move one of his chess pieces after much deliberation; and the other boy, a tall, gangly brunette, would immediately move the exact same piece on his side of the board in the exact same way as his companion. Charlie furrowed his brow. "Um…excuse me, but what are you doing?" he asked in confusion.

The darker haired boy's eyes flit up to Charlie's for a moment before gluing themselves back to he chess board, afraid of missing the ginger's next move. "I'm playing chess, of course," he replied, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Charlie scoffed. "You're just copying his moves," he pointed out, gesturing at the board.

The boy with the glasses, still concentrating on where to move his rook, explained, "It's called echopraxia; Gerard here is not only coping with dependant personality disorder, but he also has the unfortunate disorder of fixating on one person and doing exactly as they do."

Charlie glanced between the two. "Dependant personality disorder?" he repeated. "And how about you?"

After making a particularly nasty move that eliminated Gerard's queen, the bespectacled boy leaned back in his bean bag chair and laced his fingers together. "It means he constantly has to be with me…" Licking his lips, the boy watched as Gerard struggled with what to do next, since his chess pieces were significantly depleted in numbers and he couldn't copy his friend's last move. "I'm Steven Meeks. I have bibliomania…and I'm kind of OCD." He shrugged his shoulders.

"Oh…" Charlie breathed out in understanding before offering his hand to shake. "I'm Charlie Dalton," he introduced himself. "I…don't know what I have," he answered honestly. "Although I hope it has a cool name." He grinned, trying to break the ice. If he was going to be forced to stay in this facility, he may as well make friends…or at least try.

Steven raised an eyebrow at Charlie's outstretched hand. "We've met quite a few times, Charlie," he said with a small smile of his own, clasping his hand and shaking it. "And everyone knows what happens to you…"

Charlie raised an eyebrow. "Oh," he mumbled again, running a hand through his hair and reddening slightly.

"Isn't he just adorable when he blushes?" a voice off to the side gushed.

All three boys glanced up, Gerard and Steven letting out identical groans. Before Charlie knew what was happening, the girl that had previously called him adorable had plopped down on his lap, latching her arms around his neck and holding him close. "Hello, darling," she greeted him, nuzzling against his neck.

Charlie's eyes widened and he sat stock still before staring over at Steven and Gerard, silently begging for an explanation or help of some kind. Steven sighed, shaking his head. "Charlie…this is Mal Glory. She, uh…" He glanced over at Gerard for help.

"She's insane," Gerard supplied, causing Steven to shake his head yet again.

Mal furrowed her brows. "I am not insane! Why does everyone keep saying that?" she asked in frustration, huffing and holding onto Charlie tighter. "You don't think I'm insane, do you baby?" she asked, pouting her bottom lip and fluttering her lashes.

Charlie gaped. "I…what are you doing? I don't know you…"

Mal's smile drooped slightly. "Yes you do…our love is undeniable!"

Charlie was beginning to panic; he had no clue how to get this girl away from him. He licked his lips. "Is that so…?" he asked hesitantly.

The girl nodded vigorously and pulled a crumpled piece of paper from her back pocket. "I know our love is forbidden, but that doesn't mean you have to pretend it doesn't exist!" she cried, shoving the paper at him.

Charlie sputtered for a moment before reaching up and ripping the paper away from his face, skimming over the provocative words scribbled in crayon. At the bottom was a signature that read his name. He shook his head. "This isn't even my handwriting," he stated, dropping the fake love letter to the floor.

The girl stood up, staring down at Charlie with a forlorn look on her face, her hands clutched into fists at her sides. "You love me!" she yelled down at him.

Charlie gaped at her outburst and was about to retaliate with some not-so-clever way of telling her to fuck off, when he heard his name being called. Ginny rushed up to him, raising an eyebrow at Mal, who was hysterically blubbering about Charlie's undying love for her. Sighing, Ginny placed both hands on her hips. "Mallory, would you please go over and help Hopkins with the play-doh?" she asked in as calm and clipped a voice as possible. "Charlie is not, nor will he ever be, your boyfriend." Pursing her lips, Ginny latched onto Charlie's arm and quickly dragged him out of the recreational room. "You've got visitors," she informed him as they headed down the hall that lead to patient's rooms. "And remember," she said, coming to a halt outside of Charlie's door, "Don't punch Richard!"

With that, Ginny turned the knob and shoved Charlie into his designated room. He tripped to a halt, his jaw dropping at the scene before him.

Knox and Cameron were sitting in the corner room, talking to one another with worried looks on their faces. Cameron was fidgeting slightly, although he also had his annoying determined look on his face, making Charlie scowl. Knox was staring ff to the side where Chet Danbury was smugly leaning against the wall, his arms crossed, grinning down at Chris, who was decked out in her nurse's uniform. On the bed sat Mr. Keating, who immediately stood once Charlie and Ginny entered the room.

"Charlie," Keating greeted him with a smile.

Charlie raised an eyebrow. "Captain?" he asked with uncertainty.

Keating's smile was marred for a moment before he recovered and looked as chipper as ever. "You know you can just call me Dad…"

Charlie's eyes bugged out of his skull. He would never, ever be able to call Keating 'dad'. No matter how much of a father figure the man was. "Right…" he replied uncertainly, glancing over at the others that were gathered in his room.

Knox and Cameron continued to sit, although they were sort of hovering in their seats, as though undecided whether or not they should stand or whether they should wait. Keating signaled to the boys, calling Chet's name and giving him a stern look.

Chet rolled his eyes at Chris before walking in the direction of his younger half-brother. Clapping him on the back, Chet grinned. "Let's hope you stay normal this time," he cheerfully stated.

Charlie raised an eyebrow and couldn't help but reach up and remove Chet's hand from his shoulder. "Yeah…" he agreed half-heartedly, licking his lips and smirking over at Knox. "How's it going Knoxious?" he asked cordially before pursing his lips and glancing at Cameron. "Dick," he greeted with a curt nod.

Cameron nodded back, one of the saddest looks plastered onto his face, and Charlie felt an inkling of guilt before shaking his head and concentrating on Keating once again. "So…what's going on?" he asked for clarification.

Mr. Keating smiled. "Well, we usually all come and visit you once you've woken up. We don't always know how much time we'll get with you, so we rush over as soon as we can," he explained, leading Charlie over to a chair and sitting down beside him. "How was...your slumber?"

Charlie glanced around, feeling awkward with all the different people surrounding him in the room. Charlie shrugged. "Oh…you know…horrible…" He couldn't understand why his subconscious wanted him to Welton Academy and the suicide of Neil over and over again, but it wasn't controllable, so he supposed he was just going to have to deal with it.

"It's good to have you back, Charlie," Cameron piped up, receiving a tiny glare from Charlie. He just couldn't help but hate the boy for turning Keating in. Except that this was the real world, Charlie reminded himself, and Cameron hadn't turned anyone in.

"It's, um…it's nice to see you…again," Charlie said awkwardly, clearing his throat. "Do you…do you know why I dislike you so much in my dreams?" he asked, wondering if there was any reason behind it.

Cameron flushed red. "Oh, well, um…" he stumbled over his words before Chet jumped in to rescue him. Or throw him to the sharks.

"Dick here decided to rat you out for minor hallucinations," he explained, clapping his hand on Cameron's back in an annoying way that made Cameron shrink away and cringe. "He told dear old dad here that you'd started muttering about the fifties and whatnot, and that you'd tell stories about things you'd never done and you probably never will do since you're going to be stuck in the loony bin so long—ow!" He furrowed his brows at Ginny, who had swatted him on the side of the head.

"What Chet means," she continued for him. "Is that Richard informed your father that you were starting to act like a different person at times…you'd claim to be the son of a banker, and you'd say that your name was Nuwanda, and you'd talk about meeting in the woods to read poetry…" She sighed. "It was really because of Richard's love for you that you're now getting the treatment you need."

Charlie blinked as he stared between the two of them. He really didn't know what kind of treatment he was getting, since playing with play-doh didn't seem to do much. "And…Knox?" he asked, wondering if Knox had had anything to do with his incarceration.

Chet snorted. "Knox fell head over heels for Chris," he blurted, grinning down at Chris and wiggling his eyebrows.

Knox paled and he stared at Chet in horror. "I did not!" he defended himself, but by the look on his face it was quite obvious.

Ginny was glaring at Chet, although Charlie couldn't tell why. Maybe she was just a sourpuss all the time. She glanced at her watch before huffing. "I'm sorry to break this up, but Doctor Sanders wants to meet with Charlie…you can wait if you'd like, or come back at another time. It was lovely seeing you again Chet…and Mr. Keating." She glanced at Knox and Cameron, blinking, opening her mouth as though to say something, but thought better of it, and then motioned for Charlie to follow her. "Come along, Charles," she said. "I'm sure Doctor Sanders will be thrilled to talk to you again."

Charlie stood, following Ginny out the door and tilting his head to the side. "Doctor Sanders?" he questioned.

Ginny groaned. She apparently really hated being patient with him. "Your therapist."

"I have a therapist?"

"Mutt is one of the best around," Ginny informed him, stopping at a door before knocking and opening it.

"The guy's name is Mutt?" Charlie snorted, glancing inside and staring in shock at someone who looked scarily close to an older version of Knox.


End file.
